1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in an ice-cooled server installed on a drink container such as on a beer keg, which server enables beer to be directly poured into a mug or jug from a beer keg by feeding carbon dioxide gas from a small-sized gas cylinder, and more particularly to an ice-cooled server which preferably cools drink from a drink container and is conveniently used by common people.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently small-sized beer kegs are widely used on the market and are used at restaurants or bars. Since preferable cooling makes draft-beer most delicious, in order to drink cooled draft-beer, draft beer filled in a keg or bottle is previously cooled in a refrigerator or the like, and the cooled beer is then poured in a mug or jug. Such small-sized beer kegs require to be put in a big refrigeration for cooling them.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 7-330090 discloses a dispenser for easily and rapidly cooling draft-beer from a beer keg without using a refrigerator. This dispenser is directly installed to a keg neck interface of a drink container such as a beer keg and is used to serve draft-beer into a mug or jug from the beer keg by feeding pressurized carbon dioxide gas from a small-sized carbon dioxide gas cylinder into the beer keg. The conventional dispenser is provided with a cooling pipe for connecting a dispense head attached to the keg neck interface of the beer keg and a dispense cock through which beer is directly poured to a mug or jug. The cooling pipe is spiraled and is disposed in a refrigerant receiver to which refrigerant is set to cool the beer flowing through the cooling pipe.
However, this conventional dispenser with the beer cooling mechanism is further required to improve in handling and installation thereof. For example, although this conventional dispenser is arranged such that the cooling pipe set in a receiver is formed into a spiral so as to ensure a length of the cooling pipe, the conventional dispenser is required to further preferably cool drink such as draft-beer by increasing the cooling capacity. Further, since this conventional dispenser is proposed to conveniently provide draft-beer from a keg at a place where professionals treat the server, the conventional server is required such that common people can easily and conveniently set and handle this server in personal use. That is, since a dispense head of this conventional server is connected only to the cooling pipe in the receiver through a flexible pipe such as a PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pipe, the dispense head dangles from the server and thereby invites a difficult centering thereof to the keg neck interface when connected to the keg. Further, since the dispense head tends to be inclined with respect to the keg neck interface, the dispense head may be incorrectly set to the keg neck interface. In addition, in case that the dispense head set at a enter portion is attached to the keg neck interface of the beer keg by rotating a set bar of the dispense head, if only the dispense head is rotated, the flexible pipe may be twisted and closed or be broken. Therefore, in the installing operation of this conventional server to the keg, it is necessary to simultaneously rotate the set bar through one hand and the server through the other hand. This largely increases the difficulty of the installing and detaching operations of the dispense head to and from the beer keg.